


Staying

by NachtGraves



Series: Andreil Week 2018 [2]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Anxiety, Kissing in the Rain, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, andreilweek2018, neil has trouble accepting good things can stay, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 15:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15145907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NachtGraves/pseuds/NachtGraves
Summary: One stormy summer night in Columbia, Andrew finds Neil sitting in the rain.





	Staying

**Author's Note:**

> For day three of [AndreilWeek2018](http://andreilweek.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Prompts: rain, bare skin, ~~broken glass~~
> 
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](http://nachtgraves.tumblr.com)!

Andrew finds him outside. It’s just the two of them in Columbia for a few days of the summer. Nicky’s in Germany with Erik, and Aaron’s off with his cheerleader. The rest of the Foxes are just as scattered, at least until summer training starts up when the new rookies arrive. Andrew, personally, has had enough of rookies, especially ones that are needlessly being a nuisance and lack common sense.

It’s some hour where people should be sleeping, not trying and failing to creep quietly about an empty house during a storm, never mind going _outside_ to sit in the rain like an idiot trying to get pneumonia. Andrew may have been awake, unable to sleep anyway, when Neil decided on some fresh air, but that’s beside the point. Andrew heads to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of beer before he steps out to see what’s got the little rabbit’s panties in a twist.

Neil’s sat on the steps leading up to the house, back to the door and staring out at the quiet streets. Andrew grimaces as cold rain seeps into his clothes. Neil’s been out long enough to be completely drenched, red hair plastered against his skin, t-shirt and pajama pants dark and clinging. He looks like a sad, lost stray.

Andrew plops down one step above Neil’s, somewhat shaded from the pouring rain by the porch roof. Neil remains staring out into nothingness, as if he hadn’t noticed Andrew’s arrival.

Andrew takes the moment to examine Neil’s silhouette. There’s nothing outwardly wrong, no new injuries or old injuries appearing to cause an issue, so he lets his perusal go from clinical to something more intimate. He catalogues the way Neil’s clothes stick to his skin, catch the curve of his shoulders, form to the knobs of his spine. His neck is the only skin Andrew can see. Andrew’s eyes trace the drops of water that slide down from Neil’s hair, slow down his neck, and into his shirt.

“I don’t see what’s so interesting out here,” Andrew says, loud and scathing. He takes a swallow of his drink before setting it pointedly down on the step between them. Neil turns his head enough to look at Andrew and the drink and shake his head. Andrew takes the drink back, covering the top with his thumb. It’d be a waste for it to just fill up with rain water. “105%.”

“Would it have gone up or down if I had taken it?” Neil finally speaks. He’s not so lost in his head that he can’t be a snarky shit.

“107% for the attitude.”

Neil huffs. Andrew bets the little shit’s rolling his eyes. He almost adds a few more percentage points.

Andrew’s content to sit in silence until Neil wants to speak. At least for a while. Neil’s lucky that he doesn’t take too long, Andrew barely halfway through his beer.

“I’m still alive.”

Andrew rolls his eyes. “Gee, really? I never would have known. I know you’ve had that head of yours knocked around but I didn’t think you were this stupid.”

Neil turns his head around, eyes narrowed in a glare. “I’ve lived my life expecting to die at any turn. I spent a year with the understanding that I would die when the season ended. But somehow, Riko’s dead, my father’s dead, I’m no longer Nathaniel Wesninski but actually _Neil Josten_ , Ichirou’s letting me live, I can play Exy. And I’m still a Fox.”

Andrew just stares back, unimpressed. “You’re just listing things here.”

Neil heaves a shaky sigh, the noise almost lost to the rain around them. “I’m waiting for it all to fall apart. To be back in Evermore or in Baltimore or—or on the run still.”

Andrew’s had enough. “And here I thought it was something serious but you’re just being regular rabbit-y Josten.”

Neil’s mouth purses, ready to argue or call Andrew out on something or another, but Andrew sets his beer down, under the shade of the porch awning away from the rain, and reaches out. He slides his hand up and around the back of Neil’s neck, wet and cold from the rain. He feels Neil shiver under his palm.

Blue eyes, as ridiculous and dangerous as ever, meet his and Andrew gently tugs, guides Neil up to him and Neil follows. Neil ends up kneeling in front of Andrew, his hands braced on the step between them. Andrew tugs him closer. “You can put your hands on my knees.”

Neil nods and Andrew’s hand slides down into the back of Neil’s soaked shirt at the action. Andrew tenses briefly at the touch of Neil’s wet hands on his knees, cold palms on the skin his shorts don’t reach, but he relaxes from the familiarity and trust and other things that still has him itching to push Neil away and drive off in the other direction. Instead, he reaches his other hand out to hold Neil’s hip, help steady him.

“You chose to stay.” Andrew brings their foreheads together, Neil’s damp, amber curls heavy with water and dripping. “You chose to stay last summer and you chose to stay in the spring.”

Neil closes his eyes and Andrew stares at the water-darkened lashes that fan across Neil’s cheeks. His gaze follows down to Neil’s mouth, parted as he takes deep breaths in and out.

At Neil’s next exhale, just as he’s flickering his eyes open, Andrew closes the distance and catches Neil’s mouth in a biting kiss. Neil’s gasp of surprise is quickly swallowed into a moan as he falls pliant into the kiss, held up only by his hands on Andrew’s knees and Andrew’s hands on his neck and hip.

They kiss surrounded by rain and thunder until Andrew feels Neil start to shiver from the cold and wet, until they need to breathe. Andrew pulls away and Neil tries to follow, but Andrew holds him still. He squeezes Neil’s neck and Neil opens his eyes, mouth curving down into a pout.

“I’m not getting sick,” Andrew says and lets Neil go. He gets to his feet, leaves the half-finished beer on the steps, and heads back inside. When Neil only takes a second of hesitation before following after, Andrew rewards him inside with another kiss, pressing Neil against the closed door.

Their kiss ends with Neil pulling away to sneeze.

Andrew snorts and rolls his eyes. “Maybe you’ll think twice before sitting in the rain for hours, but then again, you’re an idiot so I’m not holding my breath.”

“Oh fuck you,” Neil says with a sniffle.


End file.
